• Official Statistics (vs. Massachusetts)
• Official Statistics (vs. Massachusetts) (PDF)
• Official Statistics (vs. Hofstra)
• Official Statistics (vs. Hofstra) (PDF)

COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Mississippi State softball team suffered a pair of hard-fought one-run decisions during Friday’s opening day of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. The Bulldogs fell 7-6 in nine innings to No. 20 Massachusetts before dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker to Hofstra in the nightcap.

Chelsea Bramlett paced MSU (7-4) with five hits on the afternoon, including a 3-for-4 effort in Friday’s opener against UMass. Ali Bainbridge drove in three runs in the opener, but Kyllie Magill’s walk-off home run in the ninth inning lifted the Minutewomen (5-1) to the win in a game that lasted nearly three hours.

Bainbridge added a two-run home run, her first of the season, in the third inning that gave the Dawgs a 4-3 lead over the Minutewomen.

UMass answered with the tying run in the bottom of the third, and MSU reliever Stephanie Becker and Massachusetts starter Sara Plourde kept the offenses in check to send the game into extra frames.

Becker suffered the loss in her first collegiate decision. The freshman allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings of work. Sophomore Misty Flesher tossed the first 4.1 frames, giving up four runs on seven hits.

Mississippi State struck with a run in the top of the eighth as Brittany Bell, who began the inning on second base via the international tiebreaker, took third on a Ka’ili Smith infield hit and scored on Bainbridge’s bunt single.

The Bulldogs had the opportunity to push some additional runs across, but Plourde, who improved to 4-0 as she allowed six runs, three earned, and nine hits in the complete-game effort, worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep MSU’s lead at 5-4.

The Minutewomen plated a run in the bottom of the eighth to knot the score at 5-5. A sacrifice moved Katie Bettencourt to third, and she came home when Meghan Carta lined a two-out double to left-center with her only hit of the afternoon.

The Dawgs answered right back in the ninth as Bramlett hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Brittany Gates and put State up 6-5, but the Minutewomen claimed the win in the bottom of the inning as Magill hit the walk-off round-tripper over the fence in left field.

UMass’ final blow came after Bramlett led-off the game with a double and eventually came home on a pair of wild pitches to put MSU up 1-0.

The Minutewomen answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. Magill, who led three Minutewomen with two hits, lined a one-out single and scored two batters later on a Michelle Libby double. Following a Bettencourt base hit, Libby put the Minutewomen up 2-1 when she scored on an Audrey Boutin base hit. Ploude then helped her own cause by lining a two-out double that scored Bettencourt for the 3-1 advantage.

 Bulldog freshman Erin Nesbit tripled home her sister, Courtney, in the second to cut the UMass lead to 3-2 before Bainbridge’s third-inning home run put the Dawgs back on top.

“These were two tough, one-run losses. I thought we had some opportunities offensively in both games that we didn’t take advantage of. We let the other teams off the hook a couple of times with some little mistakes. Those little mistakes are costing us games right now, but hopefully that is something we can clean up,” Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller said. “Overall, it was a disappointing day. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had to win the two games today, but hopefully we can come back strong and end up on the plus side tomorrow.”

In the nightcap, the Bulldogs out-hit Hofstra 9-5 but were unable to get the clutch hit en route to dropping a tough 2-1 decision.

Bramlett and Courtney Nesbit paced Mississippi State with two hits apiece. Freshman Kylie Vry dropped to 2-1 on the year as she surrendered both runs on five hits while striking out two in the complete-game effort.

Hofstra (7-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game two. Michele DePasquale and Sara Michalowski reached on consecutive base hits. DePasquale, who led Hofstra with a pair of hits in the game, put the Pride up 1-0 when she scored on a wild pitch.

Hofstra pushed the advantage to 2-0 in the fifth on a DePasquale RBI base hit, but State answered in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit back to one run. Bramlett led off the inning with a base hit. After stealing second and moving to third on an Allie Heon sacrifice, the three-time all-American scored when Bainbridge lined a base hit through the right side of the infield.

MSU put the tying run just 60 feet away in the bottom of the seventh but were unable to come through. Bramlett walked with one out, and after picking up her 10^th-straight steal on the year to move to second, she took third on a Heon ground-out. Hofstra starter Olivia Galati, however, got a strikeout to strand the tying run at third base.

Galati improved to 5-0 after holding the Dawgs to a run and nine hits. She struck out eight while going the distance.